Love Island involves a group of contestants, referred to as Islanders, living in isolation from the outside world in a villa, and constantly under video surveillance. They are allowed to use their phones for the sole reason of receiving texts from producers, alerting them of upcoming dates and activities. To survive in the villa the Islanders must be coupled up with another Islander, whether it be for love, friendship or money, as the overall winning couple receives $50,000. On the first day, the Islanders couple up for the first time based on first impressions, but over the duration of the series, they are forced to "re-couple" where they can choose to remain in their current couple or swap and change. It is common for Islanders to strategically chose their partner not based on love but as a pact for the two to stay on the island as long as possible, waiting for their ideal match. Any Islander who remains single after the coupling is eliminated and dumped from the island. Islanders can also be eliminated via public vote, as during the series the public vote through the Love Island app available on smartphones for their favourite couple, or who they think is the most compatible. Couples who receive the fewest votes risk being eliminated. Often a twist has occurred where it has been up to the Islanders to vote one of their own off the island. During the final week, the public vote for which couple they want to win the series and therefore take home $50,000.
During season one, the Islanders lived in a villa located in Mallorca, Spain. It includes open-plan living, with one large bedroom for the Islanders to sleep, however there are also day beds outside if un-coupled partners chose to sleep together, and also a Hideaway bedroom for couples to spend the night away from the others as a reward. The villa also comes with a pool, hot tub and all important fire pit. Every moment was captured by one of the 65 cameras and 55 microphones.
Love Island Australia averaged around 200,000 viewers for its linear broadcasts in overnight OzTAM ratings, increasing to an average of 511,000 when adding viewers from Nine's streaming service, 9Now. The series performed strongest in the youngest key demographic band, but ranked low amongst total viewers.
Series overview
Couples
Potental Network Shift
After Nine Network let their rights to the Love Island franchise lapses, Seven Network has expressed interest in the Love Island, particularly to support their 7plus service.
